Mike Lee takes on GOP critics: ‘Divisive’

Sen. Mike Lee pushed back Wednesday against critics in his own party who have been slamming the Utah Republican for steering the country toward a government shutdown with his vow to to oppose any spending bill that funds Obamacare.

“Those kinds of statements are not helpful, those kinds of statements are divisive, but they are nothing compared to what we will hear from the American people when they discover that this laws goes into effect,” Lee said on Fox News of remarks made by GOP opponents of his plan.

Reality check: Shutdown threats

“Those of us who are Republicans and those of us to claim to be against Obamacare, who happen to vote to fund it, will have a lot to pay, will have a lot to answer for with our constituents,” Lee said.

Among the GOP critics of Lee’s approach are Republican Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), who said Tuesday on MSNBC that such efforts are “silly.”

“I think it’s a silly effort,” Corker said. “What people are really saying who are behind that effort is we don’t have the courage to roll up our sleeves and deal with real deficit reduction and spending decisions.”

Lee said on Wednesday that about 67 House Republicans and 13 Senate Republicans have signed onto a letter urging Republican leadership to use the government funding bill to defund the Affordable Care Act. “We’re going to continue adding to that list, there are others who will eventually be there who haven’t yet signed on,” Lee said.

Lee said this effort is the last line of defense before Obamacare kicks in.

Speaking on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show Wednesday afternoon, Lee said the more members of Congress see electoral benefits of his movement, the more will join.

“We don’t yet have enough members of Congress in the House and Senate who have seen the electoral benefits, the political benefits from making the right policy choice … the right policy here is to stop this horrible law,” Lee said.

Lee said that if they manage to get enough members on board, Democrats will be in the untenable position of threatening to shut down the government.

“You’d then put Harry Reid in the position, the untenable position of saying ‘Because we didn’t get everything we wanted, even though you funded every other program in government even the ones Republicans hate, we’re going to shutdown the government,’” Lee said. “It’s a terrible position for him to be in.”

Lee said this effort is the last line of defense before Obamacare kicks in and that outside the Washington Beltway Obamacare is “universally despised.”